[SOLVED] A grid filtering question

I see how from the examples to add filtering to a grid via a column header menu. Is there a way to define filter fields outside the grid? E.g., if I want a filter bar (with filter fields) above the grid (and column headers) and want those fields to control how the grid data is filtered, is there a way to do this and/or an example?

So pulling the values explicitly from my fields and then setting them on the specific filters is the way to do this. What remains to be seen is if, after setting multiple filters, I can then tell the grid to filter the data.